1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of resetting a plasma display panel and a method for driving a plasma display panel using the resetting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
One typical type of plasma display panel is configured to have a three-electrode surface discharge structure. Front and rear substrates, usually glass substrates, are provided. A is number of address (A) electrodes are formed in parallel on one of the two substrates, and parallel scan (Y) and sustain (X) electrodes are formed in a direction perpendicular to that of the address electrodes on another substrate. Partition walls are formed, for example, on the substrate with the address electrodes, to divide the panel into a number of individual discharge cells. Phosphors are provided between the partition walls. The space between the two substrates is filled with a plasma-generating gas, discharges between the electrodes generate plasma, the phosphors are excited by the ultraviolet radiation of the plasma, and the discharge cell is thus caused to illuminate.
Plasma panels such as those described above are driven so that particular discharge cells are illuminated in order to display an image. Most driving methods employ, sequentially, a resetting operation, an addressing operation, and a display-sustain operation in each unit sub-field. The resetting operation is performed to uniformly distribute electric charges in all display cells. The addressing operation is performed to create a desired wall voltage in selected cells to display an image. The display-sustain operation is performed to apply a predetermined alternating current voltage to all the X and Y electrode-line pairs so that display-sustain discharge is caused in selected display cells with desired wall voltages that were applied in the addressing operation.
The resetting operation includes steps. The first step of the resetting operation involves removing wall charges generated by previous display-sustain operations by applying certain voltages between the A, X, and Y electrodes. Once wall charges generated by previous display-sustain operations are removed, voltages are applied to distribute wall charges on the various electrodes so as to facilitate future addressing and display-sustain operations. Specifically, in the last portion of the resetting operation, the A electrode lines are typically held at a ground voltage, the X electrode lines are held at an elevated voltage, and the Y electrode lines are ramped from a high voltage to a low voltage. This causes a weak discharge between the X and Y electrodes in each discharge cell, and negative charges move toward the X electrodes. Therefore, the wall electric potential of the X electrodes becomes lower than that of the A electrodes and higher than that of the Y electrodes. This reduces the voltage required for discharge between Y electrode lines and address electrode lines in the following addressing operation.
Because the A electrodes are held at a ground voltage during the final step of the resetting operation, discharge occurs for both the X and Y electrode lines. However, discharge for both the X and Y electrode lines is typically unnecessary. The unnecessary discharge may degrade the contrast performance of the plasma display device. Additionally, because of the unnecessary discharge, wall charges with positive polarities that are present around the address electrode lines disappear. Therefore, the voltage between the address electrode lines and the Y electrode lines, which is created by the wall charges, is relatively low. Consequently, the addressing voltage required for discharge between the Y electrode lines and the address electrode lines selected in the addressing time is relatively high.